New Directions for Bob Dylan
Confirming the rumors sparked by his Academy Awards performance this past
week, Bob Dylan says that yes, he is trying to look like Vincent Price,
pencil-thin mustache and all.
Having modeled himself, at various points in his long career, after Woody
Guthrie, Johnny Cash, Blind Willie McTell, and Jesus, the legendary
singer-songwriter says his new role model is indeed the star of The
Abominable Dr. Phibes, which Dylan recently caught on American Movie
Classics. It got him to thinking.
"Sure, he's a horror icon, not a singer, but what is horror but a response to
the world, and the best response nowadays, really," Dylan told The Associated
Press.
Tim Burton will direct the video of "The Masque of the Red Death of Hattie
Carroll," the first track on Dylan's upcoming CD, Theatre of Blood on the
Tracks.
Asked about Dylan's latest change of image, his longtime collaborator,
producer Daniel Lanois, shrugged and said, "Whatever." Other industry figures
were more sympathetic. "Why not? It worked for me," said Alice Cooper, as he
awaited his tee time at a Phoenix-area country club. And Roger Corman
reportedly wants the newly natty and sinister Dylan to star in a remake of
The Pit and the Pendulum, with Kirsten Dunst as the heroine and Eminem as
the guy strapped to the table.
